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"Whoopy Snorp" (alternatively "Whoopy Snort" and "Woopy Snorp") is a song by The Residents, recorded in August 1975 and December 1976.

It was first released on the Los Angeles Free Music Society compilation Blorp Esette in 1977, and then featured on the promotional Residents Radio Special later that year. It was then featured on the outtakes compilation Residue of The Residents in 1983.

History[]

The Residents recorded "Whoopy Snorp" in two sessions, the first in August 1975 (shortly before the completion of The Third Reich 'n Roll one month later), and the second during the Fingerprince sessions in December 1976;[1] although the liner notes of the 1990 CD reissue of the Diskomo EP claim it was recorded in 1972.

The lyrics feature a line from a speech by the character Saint Steve (Jay Clem) from The Residents' unfinished film Vileness Fats: "To show or to be shown is a question never known, not even by many to exist." This line is also heard in "Never Known Questions", from the group's (then unreleased) second album Not Available.

"Whoopy Snorp" was first released on the Los Angeles Free Music Society compilation album Blorp Esette in August 1977, having been donated to the LAFMS by The Cryptic Corporation for that purpose.[2] On the album's track listing, the title is incorrectly spelled "Whoopy Snort".

The song has since appeared on a number of outtakes and rarities compilations, including Residue of The Residents in 1983, Documentation - Tunes in Danger of Becoming Lost in 2009, and (in a new remaster by engineer Scott Colburn) on the second disc of the Fingerprince pREServed edition in 2018.

A "RDX" mix taken from the original master tape was heard on the 2021 compilation Leftovers Again?!; the compilation's track listing spells the title "Woopy Snorp".

Lyrics[]

The condemned mind snickers and
flows and no one gives it a rosebud
for the end of its moral apathy;
To show or to be shown's a question
never known not even by many to exist;
For what’s not known is just what’s there
and knowing that’s at least an edge,
but an edge is only an edge -
even the Empire State Building has one;
And what is truth? I say forsooth;
Why, truth is like a Baby Ruth;
And what could be ever sweeter?
Well, maybe to have a yeller aunt-eater;
Old Yeller ate my cat today
and whoopy snorped and
whoopy snorped away.[3]

List of releases[]

Weird whoopy big

Poster featuring lyrics, 1979

List of versions[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Grove Street studio recording, December 1976
  2. pREServed "RDX" mix, ca. 2020-2021

See also[]

Buy Or Die![]

Listen online[]

External links and references[]

  1. Leftovers Again?! liner notes, 2021
  2. "'Whoopy Snorp' is part of the album entitled Blorp Esette, a production by the Los Angeles Free Music Society. The usage of this song was donated by The Cryptic Corporation to LAFMS for that purpose." Jay Clem, The Residents Radio Special, 1977
  3. Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to BIG MAMAS, 1992
Residue-resident-transparent-sml Residue of The Residents
(1983)

Side A
"The Sleeper" · "Whoopy Snorp" · "Kamakazi Lady" · "Boy in Love" · "Shut Up! Shut Up!" · "Anvil Forest" · "Diskomo"

Side B
"Jailhouse Rock" · "Ups & Downs" · "Walter Westinghouse" · "Saint Nix" · "Open Up"

Residue Deux (1998)
"Scent of Mint" · "From The Plains To Mexico" · "In San Francisco" · "Dumbo The Clown" · "Is He Really Bringing Roses?" · "Time's Up" · "Daydream Believer" · "Safety Is A Cootie Wootie" · "Daydream in Space"

Superior Viaduct edition (2014)
"Loser ≅ Weed" · "Death In Barstow" · "Melon Collie Lassie"

Related articles
MOP tapes · The Tunes of Two Cities · Residents Classic Series · pREServed · Leftovers Again?! · Pour No Graphics · Elvis Presley · Richard Nixon

Fingerprince-transparent-sml Tourniquet of Roses
Fingerprince / Babyfingers
(1976-1979)

Side A
"You Yesyesyes" · "Home Age Conversation" · "Godsong" · "March de la Winni" · "Bossy" · "Boo Who?" · "Tourniquet of Roses" · "You Yesyesyes Again"

Side B
"Six Things To A Cycle"

Side C · Babyfingers
A: "Monstrous Intro" · "Death In Barstow" · "Melon Collie Lassie" · "Flight of the Bumble Roach"
B: "Walter Westinghouse"

Personnel
The Residents · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Adrian Deckbar · Tony Logan · Pamela Zeibak

Related works
Vileness Fats · X Is For Xtra · "Leapmus" · "Entrance to Crypt" · "Clumsy Climb" · "Piano Dittie" · Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! performance · The Third Reich 'n Roll video · "Whoopy Snorp" · The Residents Radio Special · "Six Amber Things"

Related articles
Sycamore St. studio · Grove St. studio · Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Pore No Graphics · Collectors' Box series

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